Scott Pilgrim VS The Joltess

On Friday Night, I was invited out by a bunch of friends to catch the first night of Scott Pilgrim VS The World. I have to admit that I have not read the graphic novels prior to the movie. Maybe I will read them in due time, but we shall see.

Since I didn't know anything about the graphic novels, what I knew about the movie was based on posts at Topless Robot, Word of Mouth and commercials. Some doofus needs to defeat 7 Evil Exes in order to date a girl who supposedly looks cooler than he does.

The people I went with laughed every 5 minutes. The movie was not that funny. Sure, there were some funny moments, and some funny lines but not that damn funny. There wasn't even any humor at all at some of the things they were laughing at.

(Spoilers!)

I found that the plot was weak to me. He had to defeat 7 Evil Exes. Okay, I get it. But why were the Exes evil? Ramona explains that she was the one who had dumped the Exes. How did they get powers, and why do they have them? Why is it that Ramona has the ability to travel through dreams to make deliveries? None of this was really explained in the film. Maybe it's discussed in the graphic novels.

The characters themselves were unlikable. Scott Pilgrim is a slacker doofus with nothing going for him, yet he has two chicks. The band mates are paperthin. They only exist to be a band in this movie. There's nothing else about them. You learn their names, their position in the band and that's about it. Ramona was dull. I don't quite understand the connection between her and Scott, because there was no chemistry between the characters. Ramona seems disinterested in everything around her, even Scott but she takes him back to her place to fool around after one night of hanging out. You don't get any idea of why these two like each other, or why Ramona is worth fighting 7 even Exes for. The Exes themselves were slightly interesting only because they were the villians. Their backstories were short. You don't really get an idea of the last four Exes get their powers. Gideon was especially disappointing because as the head of the Evil Exes, you'd think his background story would have been the most indepth. Instead we learn that Ramona had been obsessed with him, and he rebuffed her until she left. What is in this League for the rest of the Exes? Gideon formed it to get Ramona back, but nothing is really stated about the benefits for the rest. And if there isn't any, why did they agree to become part of the League?

The music was pretty good. I found myself thinking I'd probably get the soundtrack, except I didn't really like the numbers by the Sex Bob-ombs. Everything else was pretty good.

The style of the film was interesting. The videon game references were a nice touch, and the fight scenes were pretty well done, as well as the special effects but they didn't really make up for what was lacking.

I found the best part to be the room mate Wallace. Almost every line he had was a good one. I wanted more scenes with him.

The locations were fun if you lived in Ontario and knew Toronto very well, especially if you lived there. I've been there enough times that I knew all the locations and was excited to see the city in the background. I loved that the coins were all Canadian currency.

At the end of the day, I didn't think it was a bad movie - I just didn't care about the leads. I just felt that the two main characters were douchebags and I really didn't care whether they died, or got together, or lived happily ever after, or split up forever. They both seemed like jerks. Would I watch it again? I don't know. Maybe. Would I read the graphic novels to see what was missing? Another maybe. Did I have a nerdgasm like all my friends who saw it that night with me? Absolutely not.